The Grateful Dead turn 50 this year and Phil Lesh turns 75, and in celebration of the latter Phil & friends played a sold-out four-show run at his NYC-area home base, The Capitol Theatre, this week. Making the shows extra special, Warren Haynes played in his band. The shows also included Eric Krasno, Rob Barraco, and John Molo the first two nights (3/15 & 3/16); and Barry Sless subbed for Krasno on Wednesday (3/18) and Thursday (3/19). As you'd expect, setlists were different each night and included a ton of Dead songs, plus a few cuts throughout the run from Warren's former band, The Allman Brothers. Setlists from all four nights and pictures from Thursday's show are in this post.

Phil now announced another four-night run at The Cap happening October 30, Halloween, November 6 and November 7. Tickets for those shows are on sale now.

In related news, there's going to be an auction in Chicago on April 11 and 12 of privately-held Dead-related memorabilia. Chicagoist reports:

Some of that "stuff" includes pretty cool artifacts like a chair owned by Jerry Garcia and featured in a Rolling Stone article. There are posters--some autographed--from shows long ago. There's Garcia's old Colt .25 pistol and some art utensils used by Rick Griffin and even legal documents.

...Another item that intrigues [Dead historian and publicist Dennis] McNally is Garcia's hand-written lyrics to "He's Gone." "A song is an amazing thing, really," he said. "You can hear a song a million times, but we don't really witness the creation of a song." "To see the original lyrics written out, with edits and scratched out words and Jerry's doodling in the margins, it's a way to see that creative process which is impressive to me." "It's just pencil to paper," McNally continued. "It's so human and normal and not what you'd expect."

Read more and check out a few pictures of the memorabilia that will be up for auction here.

In other related news, Examiner reports that when Jerry Garcia was arrested in 1985 on drug possession charges after a San Francisco police officer noticed 23 packets of "brown and white substances" in his briefcase, that the briefcase also contained a number of Dead songs that Jerry and Robert Hunter were working on, and that police may still have the briefcase. Robert Hunter recently told Rolling Stone:

I haven't gone searching for it, but I happen to know that briefcase had a number of new songs he was working on. And if the police still have them, I'd like them back, please. It doesn't seem right. A lot of those songs disappeared. I would give [Bob] Weir the only copy of a song, and he'd put it in his back pocket and he would do the wash and there would go that song. And he'd say, "Do you remember any of that song?" and I'd say, "Maybe I can remember a verse or two." But that's one good thing about word processors coming along -- there are no more lost songs.

As you may know, there's no lack of events going on all over the country this year in celebration of The Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary. One of those is "Brooklyn Is Dead," Alex Bleeker and the Freaks' tribute show on February 10 at Brooklyn Bowl, and since we last posted, the lineup for that got way more impressive. It now also includes Cass McCombs, Darkside's Dave Harrington, Darkside collaborator Will Epstein, Woods' Jarvis Taveniere, and Patti Smith Group's Lenny Kaye. Tickets for that show, which also celebrates Relix's 40th anniversary, are still available. Flyer below.

In other news related to Alex Bleeker, his other band Real Estate are among the artists announced for Iowa City's Mission Creek Festival happening March 31-April 5. Also on that lineup is Freddie Gibbs, How to Dress Well, The Sea & Cake, King Tuff, Father John Misty, Glenn Kotche & Jeffrey Zeigler, Foxygen, Amen Dunes, Ryley Walker, Silver Apples, SQÜRL (ft. Jim Jarmusch) and more. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

And right before Phil Lesh's 75th birthday shows at Capitol Theatre (two of which are still on sale), Warren Haynes (who's joining Phil for those shows) will play the Cap with his own band Gov't Mule, joined by special guest (and past Phil Lesh collaborator) John Scofield on March 13 & 14. Tickets for those shows are on sale now.

Lastly, two days after the "Brooklyn Is Dead" show, Dave Harrington plays his own Brooklyn show on February 12 at Shea Stadium with Sam Cohen, Shark? and Kinsey.

The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh turns 75 on March 15, and to celebrate he'll kick off a run of four shows at his NYC-area home base, The Capitol Theatre, that day. He plays the venue on 3/15, 3/16, 3/18 & 3/19. The first two nights will have him joined by Warren Haynes, Eric Krasno, Rob Barraco, and John Molo; and the last two nights have Barry Sless instead of Eric Krasno. Tickets for each individual night and a GA floor 4-show pack go on sale at noon on Saturday (1/10).

This year is also the Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary, and Phil & Friends are celebrating that by recreating past Dead shows from the '60s at his San Francisco home base, Terrapin Crossroads. More info here.

Also in California, the late Bill Graham, who booked the Dead and other Bay Area bands, is getting an exhibition at LA's Skirball Cultural Center, which opens May 7 and runs through October 11. In addition to 1965 being the year of the Dead's first show, it's also the year Bill booked his first show. Billboard reports that the exhibition will include "memorabilia, photographs, archival concert footage, historical and new video interviews and psychedelic art related to the career of the godfather of the San Francisco concert scene and one of the most influential concert promoters in history."

And if any of you Deadheads are traveling to Colorado soon for any reason, you may want to get a room at the new Grateful Dead-themed Bud + Breakfast Silverthorne. One night in the Garcia Suite is only $199.

Phil Lesh and JRAD, aka PhilRAD, just played the Cap on New Year's Eve. Check out a video of "Uncle John's Band" from that show, below...

As Dead Heads likely know, original Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh has an ongoing residency at Port Chester, NY's Capitol Theatre with his band Phil Lesh & Friends. The residency has already had him at the venue multiple times, and will continue to do so, including a run this week with shows tonight (4/10) through Saturday (4/12). The band for these particular shows is Phil Lesh, John Kadlecik, Jackie Greene, Marco Benevento and Joe Russo. Friday and Saturday are sold out, but you can still get tickets for tonight and Thursday.

After this week's run, Phil & Friends (this time Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, Jackie Greene, John Medeski, and Joe Russo), who play mostly Grateful Dead songs, will head to NYC for two nights at BAM, April 14 and 15. Tickets for those shows are on sale now, and we're also giving away a pair for each night. Details on how to enter to win, below.

The Cap is owned by Peter Shapiro, who is presenting the BAM shows and also owns the Brooklyn Bowl, which has since opened locations in Las Vegas and London. Phil Lesh will play three nights at the Vegas one leading up to 4/20 (tickets), and he also plays two nights at the London one in July (tix on sale Friday, 4/11 at 10 AM).

There's other upcoming Dead-related shows at the Capitol Theatre too. Renowned tribute band Dark Star Orchestra does a two-night stand on May 16 & 17. Tickets for night 1 and night 2 are on sale.

And on a semi-related note, Hot Tuna, the blues band of Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady who come from the same San Francisco scene that birthed the Grateful Dead and their members have collaborated, play the Cap on June 16. That's one of four NYC-area shows on their electric tour with Leon Russell which also hits NYCB Theatre at Westbury on 6/20, Bergen PAC on 6/21 and Pine Belt Arena on 6/22. Tickets for the Cap show and the other three are on sale now.

In more Dead news, Phil Lesh's former Grateful Dead/Further partner Bob Weir is playing with his band RatDog at upstate NY jam band festival Mountain Jam, which takes place from June 5 - 8 on Hunter Mountain. Other artists playing include Gov't Mule, Dark Star Orchestra, Jeff Tweedy, Jonathan Wilson, Valerie June, Blitzen Trapper and many more. Since we last spoke, The Allman Brothers (who recently had to postpone the rest of their March Beacon Theatre run due to Gregg's illness) were added as the Sunday headliner and will be performing their first two albums in full. Tickets for the fest are still available.

Also not long after those Phil Lesh NYC shows, John Kadlecik, who has played in Further, Phil Lesh & Friends (including this week at the Cap) and Dark Star Orchestra, brings his John K. Band to NYC's Highline Ballroom on April 18 with opener Adam Ezra. John will be previewing new material at the show. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In more related news, the Dead's pals New Riders of the Purple Sage (whose earliest incarnation featured Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Dead drummer Mickey Hart) will headline the "Psychedelix Americana": Music of The Deli and Relix show at Brooklyn's Bell House on Saturday (4/12). The rest of that lineup includes Andy Statman, Scott Metzger's WOLF!, Diamond Eye Jack Super Jam, Your Ex-Girlfriends, Union Street Preservation Society, and King Stork. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

There's also a Dead tribute band called Half Step playing Brooklyn Bowl on July 1. Tickets for that are on sale now.

And lastly, this isn't exactly "news" but in lieu of Letterman's retirement, Jambase.com posted a video of an old Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir rehearsal on Letterman. You can watch that, plus revisit other Dead/Letterman memories including Jerry & David Grisman playing "Friend of the Devil" in '93 and Jerry and Weir on the show in '82, below.

This letter, signed by a ton of artists and pictured above, is set to appear in an ad in Billboard:

We are big fans of Pandora. That's why we helped give the company a discount on rates for the past decade.

Pandora is now enjoying phenomenal success as a Wall Street company. Skyrocketing growth in revenues and users. We celebrate that. At the same time, the music community is just now beginning to gain its footing in the new digital world.

Pandora's principal asset is the music.

Why is the company asking Congress once again to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon? That's not fair, and that's not how partners work together.
Congress has many pressing issues to consider, but this is not one of them. Let's work this out as partners and continue to bring fans the great musical experience they rightly expect.

Pink Floyd, Down, Primus, Dead Kennedys (with our without Jello?), Nas, Alabama, Sheryl Crow and many more big major label names signed this (or someone signed it on their behalf). Check out the full list below, and head to fairpayforartists.com for more information on their point of view..

Roger Waters has been added to the big "Love for Levon" tribute that goes down next week (10/3) at the Izod Center. The onetime Pink Floyd guitarist/vocalist joins the likes of Gregg Allman, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket, John Prine, Warren Hayes, Garth Hudson, Grace Potter and more in the all-star band that will celebrate the life and music of Levon Helm who lost his battle with cancer back in April. A full list of performers for "Love for Levon" is below.

Tickets are still available and please remember that the whole show is a benefit with net proceeds from the concert helping support "the lasting legacy of Levon Helm by helping his estate keep ownership of his home, barn and studio, and to continue The Midnight Ramble Sessions." We are, however, also giving a pair away. Details on how to enter are below.

Anyone who has seen Saturday Night Live knows that Bridesmaids star Maya Rudolph is more than just a comedian, but also a talented vocalist who comes from a musicalbackground. (Minnie Riperton is her mom; she was in The Rentals.) So it seems likely she'll do well sitting in as frontwoman for The Roots when they do a set of Prince covers at Brooklyn Bowl Thursday night (9/20). (Sounds like fun, too.) Advanced tickets are gone, but additional tickets will be available at the door for $15 cash.

Newsday is speculating that Maya Rudolph could also join The Roots at their Friday night gig (9/21) at The Capitol Theater in Port Chester (tickets) which, considering the recent littany of guests, is not too much of a stretch to believe either. The Roots announced Bob Weir as special guest for their 9/7 show at the venue, and ended up also roping in Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Grace Potter and Bobby Keys.

Last week's Cap show (9/14) was cancelled but this Friday's (9/21) is scheduled to feature Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. Additionally, The Roots play ATP NY on Saturday (9/22) and they'll also bless the Capitol Theater on 9/28 with Talib Kweli (tickets).

"Clearwater conducts innovative environmental programs, advocacy and celebrations in order to inspire and energize the next generation of environmental leaders.

Clearwater was founded in 1969 by music legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger." [Clearwater]

Pete Seeger's been busy lately, especially for someone who just celebrated his 90th birthday. The event for that occasion took place at Madison Square Garden on May 3rd, and is reviewed in full below, with pictures. A few weeks before that, on Earth Day (April 18th), Pete played a show at Columbia's Teachers College. Photos from that show are below too. Right after that he headed to New Orleans to perform at Jazz Fest. Prior to those, Seeger played the Clearwater benefit with Jeff Tweedy at Beacon High School on March 28th. We also recently noticed his name as the special guest on a show at Joe's Pub.

UPDATE: we can confirm that Pete played his scheduled Saturday morning Clearwater Fest performance "with kids" for those who braved the rain. Pete will perform again at the festival on Sunday afternoon with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.

A review of Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration at MSG, and all above-mentioned photos, with the full Clearwater Festival lineup & schedule, below...

Comedian and musician Dave Hill was summoned to Bonnaroo this past weekend to be part of both the comedy and music going-ons at the four-day Tennessee festival. I asked if he'd mind sharing his experiences (and pictures) with BrooklynVegan.com. He agreed. I regretted it. He sent it anyway, so here it is (starting with some MP3's by his rock band Valley Lodge), but warning: this post is not for the squeamish (NSFTS)...

I've just returned from four magical days and nights at Bonnaroo, where my rock band Valley Lodgewas the house band for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's "Bonnapoo 2009" shows, which featured all sorts of awesomeness from Robert Smigel aka Triumph as well as sets from the great Todd Barry, Amy Schumer, and Kumail Nanjiani.

"Smigel performed four sets as Triumph at Bonnaroo, which annually hosts a comedy tent along with its smorgasbord of music acts, spread out over five main stages on a farm in rural Tennessee.

"My live act is a huge undertaking because Triumph kind of thrives on the immediate, discussing what everybody's thinking about," said Smigel while whisking past festival-goers in a golf cart, puppet on hand." [AP]

The excitement started on Wednesday night when I got on a plane to Nashville with my close personal friend Janeane Garofalo, Pete Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani, and the rest of my rock band Valley Lodge. If you've ever wanted to be on a completely hilarious plane, you could do a lot worse than to have been on this plane. As you can probably imagine, all of us were running back and forth between our seats spraying each other with seltzer bottles and throwing pies in each others' faces. At one point, Pete Holmes came over to my seat to shake my hand and it turned out he had one of those joy buzzers on his finger. Man, was my face red. I got him back though by spraying him in the face with a prank flower I was wearing at the time. We both just laughed and laughed after this happened. He couldn't stay mad at me.

Once we got to Nashville, some unmarked vehicles took us all to Murfreesboro, the popular Tennessee town where we all stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, which is really classy. Because I snore and also like to get up to all sorts of hardcore banging in hotels, I had my own room. When I dropped off my bags, I looked around the room and got all excited about all the snoring and hardcore banging I would be doing in my room over the next few days and nights.